Fresh, not cold-pressed?

In the fight between convenience and health, convenience almost always wins. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of years, you have definitely herd of , if not seen cold-pressed juices. You usually find them in health stores or in the cold section of hyper markets. Cold-pressed juices claim to be many things, the most stressed upon is that it’s healthy. People have come to believe is health benefits to such an extent that a lot of detox diets are now being prescribed with the help of such miracle cold-pressed juices. For those who don’t already know, there is what they do:

What is cold-pressed?

Cold pressed juices are made in a two-part process. First, hydraulic presses are used to squeeze the fruits and vegetables through a fine mesh to extract the maximum juice from it. The juice is then bottled and submerged in a container filled with water. A method called high pressure processing (HPP) is used whereby a pressure equal to five times that of what’s found at the bottom of the ocean is applied to these submerged bottes to render all possible pathogens inactive. This is said to extend the shelf life of the juice by a couple of weeks.

What do normal juicers do different?

Normal juices, or centrifugal juices, use blades to extract the juice which create heat when spun. This heat tends to destroy the nutrients present the fruits and vegetables being juiced. Certain vitamins like vitamin C are especially sensitive to light and heat.

What do both not have?

The biggest downside to juice, both regular as well as cold-pressed, is the lack of fiber. Fiber has multiple benefits like keeping the biome in the gut going, reducing cholesterol, stabilizing glucose levels, etc. Further, the fiber present in fruits and vegetables has a counter balancing effect to its sugar content. When you remove fibre, and consume high volumes of just the juice, you are likely to get a sugar spike similar to that of coke. The body requires at least 30gms of fiber every day for healthy functioning. Most of this should ideally be got from fruits and vegetables.

Is it really healthy?

There is little to no solid proof that cold-pressed juices are significantly healthier than regular juices. While they might have certain benefits like not having any preservatives, additives or processed sugar, the argument that it is nutritionally far superior is still debatable. What can be said for sure is that nothing compares to eating the real thing. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables as a whole will always be healthier than its counterpart because its natural, unprocessed and unharmed by human touch.